Brace Yourself! Blockchain Smartphones are Coming

Blockchain technology has been the talk of the investment and IT town for years now and it seems like the smartphone industry is slowly getting involved in it as well. Although the HTC Exodus, the Sirin Labs Finney, and the Pundi X XPhone have already made their way into the blockchain market, a large section of the population remains unaware of what they are and what a blockchain smartphone even means. Follow us as we take a closer look at the concept of blockchain smartphones before a host of them arrive soon and you head on over to buy one.

What is a Blockchain Smartphone?

In order to delve into the deeper aspects, it is important to first understand what exactly blockchain smartphones are. Now, the answer to this question isn’t very clear at this point, but there are some parameters which make the blockchain smartphone stand out from the rest of the smartphones available in the market and they can be summed up as follows.

• It will act as a computing node in the connected blockchain network
• The smartphone will become an encrypted, physical wallet for the user’s stash of cryptocurrencies
• Depending on the phone itself, a number of other functionalities can be expected

Security and Privacy of the Blockchain Smartphone

As the main idea behind creating blockchain technology in the first place was to remove some of the control from the hands of the large businesses and give it back to the users, blockchain smartphones could once again make mobile phones a private and secured gadget. This extends beyond just blockchain and cryptocurrency, as it can also be used to protect our digital identities as well. Given the current situation with Facebook and social media in general, blockchain smartphones could be the answer common users are looking for, to protect and gain complete control of their own digital data.

Is a Blockchain Phone Completely Secure?

The short answer would be no. There are vulnerabilities in carrying around a physical crypto wallet that not only has all your cryptocurrencies but is also connected to the internet at all times. Some of the common concerns can be pointed out as listed below.

• On being stolen or lost, users could lose all their cryptocurrencies forever
• The Android OS does have a number of vulnerabilities and new ones pop up every month

How are the Security Issues Being Addressed?

As it is with any technology in its early stages, the blockchain smartphone still has a long way to go and one of the very first steps towards improvement would, of course, involve solving some of the problems we discussed. The good news is that they are already being addressed by the current-gen blockchain smartphones in different ways. For example, the Finney has a second touch screen that slides out from the back of the phone when you want to access the wallet storage. The moment you slide out this second display, the phone will start accepting only encrypted communication, essentially closing off the cold coin storage from any external hacks. On the other hand, the HTC Exodus gives its users the opportunity to store their keys on a separate, secured execution environment called TrustZone, which is independent and not connected to the Android OS.

Can You Exchange Cryptocurrency on the Blockchain Smartphone?

You most certainly can exchange cryptocurrencies on a blockchain smartphone, but it needs to be understood that the crypto traders are not the target audience the blockchain smartphone manufacturers are looking at. If you are someone who is interested in turning a profit by buying and selling cryptocurrencies, you need a coin tracker system that is constantly updated more than anything else. Nevertheless, the option to store coins safely and exchanging currencies securely from the same device is definitely an option nobody will mind having at their disposal.

Is It a Prospective Business Venture with a Bright Future?

Blockchain technology on its own is the inevitable future for building a secured and private digital environment, but does it make the blockchain smartphone a good business to invest into? The situation at this moment is too complicated to provide a clear-cut answer to that question, but there is no doubt that it will still take years in order for the masses to accept blockchain and cryptocurrency, especially since even the government doesn’t understand it as well as it should. In any case, a lot of people do use cryptocurrencies and as it stands now, the blockchain smartphone is a niche device, unless its functionalities are expanded a lot more than what they are at the moment.